Dominic's POV
I finally reached home. The apartment stood oddly silent as I approached the door. No shouting. No crashing sounds. No Vampire monologuing to the toaster. Just... silence.
Wait—no sound?
Did he—DIE?!
That was genuinely my first thought. Because there's no damn way he stays quiet for more than two seconds unless he's unconscious—or worse.
Panicked, I threw the door open.
"BAT!! VAMPY!! ARE YOU GOOD?! ANSWER OR I'M GETTING HOLY WATER!"
My heart thudded in my throat, but to my immense relief, there he was.
Sprawled across the couch like a limp sack of glitter, snoring with his mouth wide open and a line of drool threatening to flood the cushions. The TV was still blaring some cartoon with characters yelling and honking. Of course. Why was I even worried?
"Phew," I muttered, dropping my bag and the sipping bag to the side. After the day I had, the only thing I needed was a shower and ten minutes not spent babysitting a theatrical bat-man-child.
But when I stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying my hair, the scene hadn't changed—except now, he was twitching.
And mumbling.
"No... Dad... wake up... Momma... I will not leave you..."
His voice cracked.
"I...I will... no..."
Then he sobs. Not just a sniffle—real sobbing, like his soul was collapsing.
"Fuck," I whispered. "He's having a nightmare."
I froze. Monsters... have nightmares?
He thrashed slightly, curling into himself, sweating. His breath hitched—desperate, shaky—and I saw something raw and terrifying in him. I didn't even think. I just rushed over and shook him hard.
"BAT!! Wake up! WAKE UP OR I'LL THROW YOU OUT THE WINDOW!!"
He jolted awake, gasping, red-eyed like a damn lava demon. For a split second, he looked completely... lost. Like he didn't even know where or who he was. His arms flailed before blindly reaching out, trying to grab onto something—someone.
And I did something I never thought I'd do.
I pulled him into a hug.
One arm around his back, the other pressed against the back of his head. He clung to me instantly, like a kid clutching his mother during a storm. His body trembled violently, and he buried his face in my chest, wetting my shirt with tears he probably didn't even realize were falling.
"Hey, hey," I murmured awkwardly, patting his back. "It's okay. I'm here. Shit, don't cry—I suck at this emotional stuff. You're safe, okay? No one's killing you."
I rested my chin on his golden hair hesitantly, trying not to panic from the sheer emotion vibrating off him. He wept like something inside him had broken beyond repair.
And then I caught it.
His scent.
Warm, sweet—like cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven. What the hell? I'm not into perfume metaphors but... that scent hit me like a truck and I felt something inside me weirdly calm. My headache from earlier? Gone. My tension? Dissolving. My wolf side? Probably doing some wolfy crap I don't understand.
God, I'm sniffing him.
I'm sniffing him like a freak.
Get a grip, Dom!
He went limp eventually, quieting down, and I gently slid him off my lap. I held his chin and tilted his face to meet my eyes.
"What the hell was that?" I asked firmly. "No, actually—what the hell is any of this?!"
He blinked, still glassy-eyed.
"I mean it! My entire life flipped upside down this week. I found you—half-dead and bat-shaped—in a damn forest, brought you home like a stray dog, only to discover you're a vampire! And not just any vampire—a clumsy, dramatic, walking disaster! I don't even know your real name, let alone what the hell happened to you!"
He opened his mouth but I kept going.
"You flirt with me like I'm not straight as a damn lamp post, you eat all my snacks, break my kitchen down, and now you're crying in my arms like a haunted kid from a tragic anime flashback. Dude, who ARE you?!"
Silence.
Then, he sniffed. Wiped his eyes. Looked me dead in the face.
"I'm a vampire," he said.
...
NO SHIT, Sherlock!
But before I could sass him, he continued.
"My name is Lean. Lean Count. I'm twenty. A computer science student at Marin Techno Institute. I live in the Darkhood region of Maine."
His voice started out calm—but when he mentioned his parents, it trembled.
My Dad's name is" his face darkens, "sorry was Carlos Count and my mommy's name is Lili Count, I have two elder siblings, Eric and Jessy, and my uncle Johathan, I call him uncle Jeff and his son my cousin the youngest of the family little bam!, we were a happy family, quite happy, Dad was a business man, and successful we were rich, uncle Jeff owned an Cafe, Eric trying his own luck in business, and Jessy was an nurse! Like my momma!", he pauses and then starts again
"I read in Marin Techno Institute and was doing my Computer science graduation, 2nd year! I was a good student always was! Then everything changed that evening! Like a week ago, Sunday!
He paused. His whole face fell.
"That Sunday... it was just a week ago. We were all home. Laughing. Chilling. Dad brought snacks and blood cans, of cattle blood! We are civilized we dont hurtanyone like how Hollywood shows us , yeah we had some terrible history though. Mom and Jessy had just come back from their shift—from the hospital. Eric, Uncle Jeff and I were watching TV. It was peaceful."
Then he whispered, "Then came the light. A loud boom. Blinding flash. And hounds. Real ones."
He shook as he spoke now.
"I don't remember everything. A brick hit my head. Dad fought them—but I heard the gunshot. Heard him fall. Mom pushed me to run—forced me. I didn't want to leave. I turned into a bat—but one of them slashed my wing. I saw Uncle Jeff holding one of the attackers down. Tried to grab Bam—but it was too late. They took them. All of them."
He looked at me then, eyes full of something that hurt to witness.
"I flew. Kept flying, as those hounds chased me, I had to live, live for them so I could help them later. Until I crashed into your world. Bleeding, broken, cursed. I thought it was over. But... maybe whoever watches from above—the one whose name no monsters whisper—maybe He had pity on this damned Bat!"
He smiled, weakly.
"Because you found me."